Himachal Pradesh: India’s first ever voter is now 97 and he’s never missed an election. Shyam Saran Negi (in pic) is a retired teacher in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. He has voted in every single election since 1951-52 — when India held its first general elections after gaining independence from British rule.

Negi, who lives in village Kalpa in Kinnaur district, will cast his vote on May 7, the day voting will be held for all five seats of Himachal Pradesh.

In the October of 1951, the threat of a bitter winter and snowy roads allowed Himachal Pradesh to vote some months earlier than the rest of India in the fledgling country’s first ever general election. The first Indian to cast his vote in the tehsil of Chini was Negi, then 34.

“Mujhe aaj bhi who din yaad hai. Woh khushi, woh garv (I still remember that day. The joy, the pride),” he says in a video, urging people to vote.